Medicated Leaven Massa, also known as Shenqu or Liuqu in Chinese, is one of the common digestion-promoting drugs; it is prepared by fermenting the juices of Artemisia annua Linn., Polygonum hydropiper L., and Xanthium sibiricum Patr. with powders of Armeniacae semen amarum. and Vigna umbellata, wheat bran and flour mixed in a certain proportion under suitable conditions. Medicated Leaven Massa is the most widely applied among the traditional fermented medicines. Medicated Leaven Massa is sweet and pungent in flavor, warm in nature, and belongs to the spleen and stomach meridian; it has the effect of promoting digestion, invigorating stomach, regulating stomach and spleen and anti-diarrhea.
The traditional preparation technology of Medicated Leaven Massa was fermentation using natural microbial strains in a particular season under natural conditions. Medicated Leaven Massa products of different origins or of the same origin but of different batches vary greatly due to various fermented circumstances and seasons all over the country, and even the unwanted strains were involved in the fermenting process, such as aflatoxin. As a result, the safety of Medicated Leaven Massa is seriously affected. Therefore, it is of great significance to standardize the fermented method of Medicated Leaven Massa.
In our previous study, the fermenting strain was first separated from the traditional fermented Medicated Leaven Massa and identified as Penicillium chrysogenum. The Penicillium chrysogenum has been used to produce the Medicated Leaven Massa with pure strain fermentation. This process reduces the contamination of unwanted strains, allows a controllable process technology and quality, and simplifies the process technology to ensure the effect of Medicated Leaven Massa. The method provides scientific evidence for standardizing the fermentation technology of Medicated Leaven Massa, and improves economic efficiency in production.